Advising an entrepreneur on emigration from the UK during the COVID-19 crisis

We advised a tech entrepreneur on their immigration to the UK several years ago and helped him set up a particularly complex global wealth structure to hold their IP in a tax-efficient family office format.

The young client is one of the fastest-growing entrepreneurs in the world currently.

After public spending on Covid-19 exploded, the client became fearful that they would be required, later in 2020, to take on a disproportionate amount of the tax burden.

We were at the peak of the pandemic, in complete lockdown and the client was not permitted to leave the country. HMRC were regularly updating and amending their guidance on how they would apply the legislation and what amounted to "exceptional circumstances." Every day spent in the UK increased the prospect that the client would be regarded as a UK tax resident for the entire tax year 20/21.

How did we help?

We advised on our client’s "emergency" emigration from the UK of a tech entrepreneur fearful of increased UK tax rates in 2020. We remained calm under increasing pressure, evolving our advice in line with the changing circumstances arising from the increasing number of days spent in the UK.

How did this benefit the client?

We provided the client with several options and, as soon as they were permitted to, managed the process of his expatriation to a new country in pretty short order.